Fyrene, I never said it was Cruelty or anyone particfular getting harrassed, as a matter of fact, I don't recall saying anyone has been harrassed. My problem is I'm looking at this like the RIAA situation, so of course my assumption is that it will eventually end up being like the RIAA situation, So what I am merely saying by stating that I feel that the Recievers of these gifts shouldn't be Harrassed, Ridiculed or Punished, I'm saying that I would hate to see it come to that sort of thing. I'm not a merchant, so I can't say "I know how you operate" so I suppose I shouldn't jump to conclusions on how things are going to go. Personally, Out of all the merchants that have posted here, I believe all of you to be extremely level headed and fair people. I personally, can't see why you would let people pirate or pass it down, but I guess that shows your good side by letting the people with less fortune experience the pleasure of using your product. I wish nothing but the best for you fine people. Ketamine

sorry, the last comment was posted in responce to Carolly. Ketamine

I agree, but what I am saying is that I don't feel that the people that are recieving these gifts should be punished, scolded, harassed or whatever. Ketamine

First i would like to appologize for not making myself 100% clear, I'm not saying the merchant's ARE greedy, I said it makes them come off as greedy. I apparently don't know alot of these people personally, so I can not actually judge them or sit here on my high horse and point the finger saying "you're greedy!", and I can say that same exact thing about the RIAA.. these people are trying to make a living off of something they're good at and in all respects should be paid for their efforts... however, by blowing everything out of porprotion, they're coming ACROSS AS GREEDY... not to say they are greedy, but that is how they are coming across and this is doing nothing more than pissing people off. The way things are going right now, I really dont see selling music, making music or anything like that happening in the future. In my honest opinion.. I believe that the music industry will eventually fall which would mean that we would no longer have music as a source of entertainment because the RIAA wanted to take this thing public and scare piraters. What does this have to do with Merchants and poser? Well, it looks to me that is the direction this is heading... I could be wrong, but I come here frequently because even the begginers put out damn good work and I love everything about art. I would hate to see art fall because people don't understand that people need money in order to survive. As far as wasting money goes.. Food, Cigarettes, clothes, drinks... whatever... all of that shit is shit I need with the exception of cigarettes... I do agree it's pretty much a waste of money for something that won't last, but these are things that will aid in my survival. I've tryed to quit eating, drinking and smoking to save money... but eventually give in to my bodies needs. I would love to give up on that shit... but my bodie wont let me. Now as far as things I don't need... I wont buy them... Such as wasting money on movies at theatres.. I don't see any point in that type of thing. Watch it once and i'm out 10 bucks, When i can spend 20 and watch it repeatedly, perhaps if I were going to use the product in more than one picture then yeah, I would buy it, simply because it's going to get used alot... meaning it wasn't really a waste to buy it. I know that type of behavior really isn't normal, but that's just my veiws on things. Nothing more, nothing less... it has nothing to do with the merchants, because as I have said, they're work is absolutley amazing, and I suppose you could take the whole "it's a waste of money" thing as an insult but I really wish you wouldn't because it's not intended that way. On another note, I agree with the "greedy customer" comment as well, because after all the freebies are just that... Free! How do you complain about something thats free!? That's just ignorant... if they can't figure it out then it's not like they're at a loss, it's not like they paid $20 for something they can't use. I don't understand those type of people personally. Anyhow, that's all I had oin my feeble mind. Ketamine

all right, well let me start by saying i'm not whinning about any thing, just throwing in my two cents... or should I conform to your thoughts and beliefs and throw them aside as if I were your mindless slave. Also, i'm not "whinning" about the license, i'm "whining" about the merchants confronting individuals about it... now I could get into the whole privacy issue but I feel them having a record of who bought what is more like a store keeping receipts so I don't have a quarrel with that, but at the same time, not every holds on to one specific sign in name either, and further more I don't really mind that the merchant is curious or what have you simply because I can understand where they're coming from simply because I know if i spent all day to make a beautiful texture, a prop or anything of that sort, I wouldn't be too happy with knowing that I was being ripped off either. But I think by confronting people with the situation is just going to make things worse, especially if the other person 1. Didn't know that excepting the gift was wrong or 2.They purchased the product under a different Sign In name because as I said, that makes the merchant look greedy and the consumer feel un comfortable which will inevitably lead to the consumer no longer funding the merchant by purchasing their work. As for myself, I don't buy anything simply because I feel that I would be wasting alot of money just to use it for one image and then simply toss the product aside, especially since I can't send the shit that I no longer use, to a friend so that I can clear some space on my Hard Drive without wasting that 20 bucks that I could have spent on something I needed. My intentions were nothing more than put my two cents in on what's going on... But hey, if you would prefer to throw a fit over a few people using their gifts to create spectacular images just because somebody didn't feel like wasting 20 dollars, so that you can lose the majority of you customers... then I say go for it. I've personally got nothing against the merchants. I can understand and appreciate exactly where they're coming from, and to be quite honest, i hope they never quit doing what they do, because they're work is absolutley amazing and in my eyes worth every penny when it's being used. But if this were to become a huge issue such as the KaZaA and RIAA has.. then all of the artist that put out those brilliant peices of work will be forced to quit because they feel that distributing their products is a waste of time since they're not getting any profit. But I also don't see any reason to spend money on something we're just going to throw away. Everything becomes outdated eventually.

RIAA moves to software? lmfao. this is great, First the record company throws a fit because their artist aren't making money and now people are boycotting them due to their greed. And now the merchants are getting that way, or at least that's the way it seems to me. I can understand throwing a fit if someone doesn't pay for your product and only one person had purchased it or what have you, But as far as the "it's still pirating even if you have the original and he doesn't use it anymore" goes.. that seems like greed to me. We spend $20 on a package that we're only going to use for a short time and then put it aside untill something new comes out and then we buy more shit that we'll eventually toss aside like yesterday's trash. So if we stop using them after awhile... what are we doing? wasting our money.. especially if we remove the things from our HD just to preserve some sort of space and ship the disk to someone else... that in my eyes makes the merchants look greedy, and just like in the recording industry, people will end up boycotting, Which means that People like Fyrene and Ecstacy will not be getting paid for their amazing work. Not only that, but you can purchase something for someone else as gifts here... There's no difference between someone buying something for themselves and then not using it anymore and sending it to a friend after they get rid of it... What's the difference out side of someone test driving it first? I don't know about all of you, but i really don't see any difference. I would also like to say that i think fyrene was actually pretty level headed about the whole thing, which i think was a good move on Fyrene's part, however, just mentioning it or bringing it to light will and probibly has already started something that will keep going on and on. The war against piracy is a lost one, the more you protest against piracy, the more your going to drive your customers away. If you just kind of deal with it (granted, i know it's hard to do when your not making enough income to provide for yourself or what have you, especially if this is your only means of income) then more than likely, you will still get alot of customers... but their will always be piraters, and some money is better than none. Another thing is that someone giving you something as a gift is completely different then pirating. Pirating is giving the other person a duplicate of their file that they themselves did not pay for. A gift is where they send the product and delete it from their HD so it would still only be licensed by one person so to speak, and the only reason that i am bringing up both issues in the same post is because the gifts were misintrepreted as pirating. Now, i'm not for pirating myself but i feel that if someone gives someone else a file and deletes their file so that they don't have it as well or whatever (especially if they are no longer using it) and it's a gift, i feel that the recievers of that gift should not be punished for it. As far as me saying you're going to have to deal with piraters, i'm just trying to help out because i have been keeping up with the RIAA's actions and watching how their customers are responding, and alot of people are boycotting against buying any new cds or anything of that sort.. so because of the RIAA's actions, they're going to lose alot of customers or simply go out of buisness, Now I know you may not think that has anything to do with you, but what you may or may not fail to realize is that it's the same thing here. The more the merchants protest, the more the Customers and Piraters are going to protest because the merchants are coming off as greedy. Just trying to help you keep your head above water. Ketamine